Movies and Books in Spanish

I recently went to see a movie here in Sevilla and walked away with more than I expected. I was not quite brave enough to try watching a movie in Spanish so I went to the movie theater called Cine Cinco that plays movies in their original language with Spanish subtitles. It turned out to be more of a learning experience than I thought. As I watched the film I kept my eye on the subtitles and actually picked up a lot of new vocabulary words. The best part about it was that I learned so many new slang words and phrases that are sometimes hard to come by in a classroom setting or hard to decipher in a conversation. I´ve found that I learn best when I´m able to see things written out. Everyone has a little different learning style but this has been what has worked best for me. Additionally, you can set the subtitles to Spanish on your DVDs that you´ve brought from home when you´re looking for something to do during siesta or on a rainy day.

Another good way to pick up the language is by reading books in Spanish. If you´re anything like me and are not quite ready to dive into a challenging book written completely in Spanish, I have a good recommendation. I´ve found books that are written on one side of the page in English and the other side in Spanish. This way you can read in Spanish until you come across a word or phrase that you don´t understand and then simply glance across to page to find the meaning. I´ve found that this is much less tedious than reading a book with a translation dictionary in hand. Thus far, the only place I´ve been able to find these books is at a bookstore in El Centro called Casa de Libros in the English literature section. On the map below, I´ve attached a Google map of the locations of both Casa de Libros and Cine Cinco.


View Cines Cinco and Casa de Libros in a larger map